Railway-tie



(No Model.)

J. R. MGGA'RTEY RAILWAY TIE.

110.410.176.` Y Patented Sept. 3, 1889.

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i UNITED 4STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN R. MCOARTEY, OF KENDALLA CREEK, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAI LWAY-TI E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 410,176, dated September 3, 1889i Application iiled March 20, 1889. i Serial No. 303,988. (No model.)

To (LZZ whom z' 71u13/ concern;

Be it known that I, JOHN R. MCOARTEY,a citizen of the United States, residing at Kendall Creek, in the county of McKean and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Ties; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which 1t appertains to make and use the same.

rFhis invention relates to railway-ties, the obgects of the invention being to simplif y the construction of metallic ties, to provide a tie which shall possess a maximum amount of strength with a minimum amount of metal, and a tie wherein the greatest strength shall be at the longitudinal center, one which shall have an extensive bearing, and one which will be prevented from undue sinking in the ballast, as well as providing ready and eicient means for iirmly securing the rails in position. I accomplish these several objects by the devices shown and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a plan view of atie constructed in accordance with the terms of my invention. Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal sectional view taken on the linexm of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is aplan view of a modified construction. Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken in the line y y of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a detail view representing the arrangement of one of the permanent retaining-clips. Fig. 6 is a similar view illustrating the construction and arrangement of one of the detachable retaining-clips. Fig. 7 is a transverse section through the center of a modification of the tie.

In manufacturing ties such as those forming` the subject-matter of this application I take a thin metallic plate, preferably of iron or steel, and in the upper face of this rplate I form a concave groove, the central portion of which is elliptical, the inner axis of the ellipse being at the longitudinal center of the tie; but the edges of the ends of the grooves are parallel from a short distance within the points at which the rails are disposed to the ends of the tie, these end portions of the groove loeing also of equaldepth, while the central elliptical portion of the groove gradually increases in depth from each end portion to the longitudinal center of the tie, as will be readily understood from the drawings hereto annexed, in which A represents the plate, B the central elliptical portion of the concave groove, and O the end portions, which end portions, as before stated, are ot' equal width and depth throughout their entire length. t

At one end of the tie there are formed two L-shaped cuts, as a and b, and the ears c, formed bysaid cuts, are bent up, as illustrated in Fig. 5, becoming when so bent retainingclips, by which the rail Ais held to the tie, the lines upon which `the two clips or ears arc bent corresponding' with the lines between which it.is desired to support the base of the rail. Near the opposite end of the tie there is a third L-shaped cut CZ, that is made to form athird clip or ear e, and in the opposite edge of the tie there is formed a recess f, in which Athere is mounted a detachable clip g, said clip being formed with an underlapping flange, which -tits beneath the tie, the clip proper being held to the tie by a bolt h. l If desired,- transverse grooves i may be formed in the upper faces of the ties for the reception of the bases of the rails; but such grooves would not always benecessary, the peculiar formation of the clips e e and the connection of the clip g, which rests within the recess f,`preventing the spreading of the rails. In applying such a tie as the one illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 and just described the tie would loe turned at an angle, so as to permit the base of the rail to enter the space between the clips c. Then the tie would be turned so as to extend at right angles from the rail, the clips embracing the base of the rail, the clip e moving to position above the base of the opposite rail, after which the clip is applied as illustrated.

In certain instances all of the retaining-clips might be similar .to the clip g, as is shown in Fig. 3. It desired, an aperture 7a could be p formed at the center of t-he tie to provide for a proper drainage.

From the construction described it will be seen that the broadest part of the elliptical groove is at the center of the tie, and hence the greatest amount of strength will be at said central point, and as the outer walls of the groove slope inward from t-he center toward the ends the tie when ballasted will be held against lateral displacement.

As an additional means ot securely seating IOO the tie and preventing the same from unduly sinking in the ballast, I contemplate providing the longitudinal edges of the tie with out- Wardly and downwardly extending flanges l. These flanges depend from the rail-seat m, and, entering the road-bed, prevent any lateral or longitudinal displacement of the tie.

It is obvious that the clips c may be formed on ties such as shown in Fig. 13, as well as upon those in which the anchor-flanges l are omitted.

Having described my invention, what I claim is- 1. A railway-tie consisting, essentially, of a metallic plate formed in its upper side with a longitudinal groove the central portion of which is elliptical.

2. A railway-tie formed in its upper side with a longitudinal groove that increases in Width toward the center of the tie, substantially as specified.

3. A railway-tie formed in its upper side with a longitudinal concave groove and with retaining-clips, in combination with a retaining-cli p g, substantially as described.

4. A railway-tie formed with transverse grooves fi and a longitudinal concave groove which gradually increases in breadth and depth toward the center of the tie from points c just within the transverse grooves, substanlVitnesses:

JAMES GEORGE, E. M. KETCHAM. 

